Dinosaur Butts

James love his new dinosaur so much he even sleeps like it.

His Father's Son

Please excuse the quality. These prime "Prom Night Humiliation" photos were taken on my phone.


James trying to count to five with me. He got one, three, and five. Not sure what happened to two and four.

Christmas Card Photos

My mom came over yesterday (thanks again, Mom!) to take pictures of us for our Christmas card. These are my 2 favorites, and my favorite failed attempt, as well as the "card" as designed by yours truly.

Proof that we are truly Kolakowskis:

And of course, our finished card:

And So Begins the Potty Training...

James picked out a frog potty chair today. He has a little seat that fits on the big toilet but he isn't very comfortable on there, as much as he likes to "sit potty," so it seemed that the time was right. Well, first of all, James loves to sit on his potty. With pants, without pants, it's all cool to him. This evening after Chris got home from work, James was showing off his new "frog! potty!" and told Daddy that he wanted to sit on it. While enjoying his throne, James christened his potty by peeing in it! He then proceeded to drop one of his cars in the potty. At least it was only pee, and the car is washable.

Our little boy is growing up!

Yeah...I know, I'm such a mom.

Apparently Baby Gates Taste Good, and Other Stories

James was standing in front of the gate we have across the dining room, looking at the Christmas tree and licking the baby gate. I told him that he shouldn't lick the baby gate, because it's gross, and he said "eeeew" in agreement. He then opened his mouth really wide and sucked on the gate, and said "Mmmm, good!"

While I was making dinner, James was hanging out in the kitchen. At one point, he walked very deliberately across the room, laid down carefully on his belly, and said "Woah, fall!" When I started laughing, he proceeded to "fall" all over the kitchen, and at some point just started pushing himself around the floor on his belly.

We took Athena out to check the mail with us, and when she was looking around for bunnies after she was done peeing James asked what she was doing ("Fee? Look?") and I explained that she was searching for bunnies, but that the bunnies all were in their houses at night. James took the flashlight and started looking for bunny houses ("Light, look munny house.") I finally convinced him we should go inside because it was cold and dark out, and he tried to go back out the door with the flashlight to "look munny house" without me. The boy was appeased when I suggested making a house for one of his stuffed animal bunnies, so we now have a "munny house" under our coffee table. Not that this has stopped James from wanting to look for bunny houses every time we go outside.

Toddlers are weird.

James and the Christmas Tree

James seems to think that the ornaments are toys. Well, he doesn't seem to think that, he does think that. He keeps going over and holding them in his hands and saying "TOY!" and then making them dance, rock, or move in some other way appropriate to their design. He loves his own ornament, because it's a boy wearing a hat on a rocking horse ("Boy! Horse! Hat! Wheeee!") and it rocks because it's a rocking horse. That the tree has lights seems to be a bonus. He also really likes the "Advent calendar" (a string of Hershey's kisses separated by ribbons, so we can unwrap one at a time) from his daycare lady, Shelley. Mainly he likes the chocolate that he gets after dinner ("Mmmm, chock!").

Vintage Christmas Pictures!

Way back in 2001 Chris was already a part of my family. *awww*

Here's me with curly hair. Wow. I was like, all of 18 in this picture!

Chris, with no facial hair!! WOW. And Anna, Tim, Ariel, Jim Erkel, and Marise.

Hey look, all of us! From Left to Right: Sara-Mikaela, Tim, Ariel, Anya, Marise, Jonny, Jim Morsicato, Grandma Margaret, Tena, Ed, Joanna Morsicato, Anna, and Jim Huckabay.
How was that for a trip down memory lane!! Wow.

First real sentence!!

James said his first actual, gramatically correct sentence today! (The back story: Chris drank all the root beer that we were supposed to be sharing, and apologized for not leaving me any.)

James: "Daddy said sorry!"

The closest thing to a sentence before this was a few months ago when James said "Hound out pee." Pretty good description of how MacGuyver spends his time, actually.

The Terrible Two...

year molars are making their entrance. Poor James has been in pain for several days, and he won't even eat a banana when his mouth hurts, which is saying something, as banana is his favorite food. He actually calls them "nums" rather than bananas. We have to give him Tylenol a good 30 minutes before he eats in order for him to even try to eat without just whimpering and grabbing at his mouth and cheeks.

Poor baby. Teething sucks. I actually will say that teething is the worst part about having James. It turns our usually happy and laid back boy into a little whiney, grumbly, bitey, pinchy, cranky monster child. Who doesn't sleep at night. Because you know I missed getting up at 3am to soothe my baby back to sleep. Oh wait.

At least these are the last teeth for a few years.

How Not to Encourage Your Child to Like Dinosaurs

James loves dinosaurs, or "saurs" as he calls them. He has dinosaur books and dinosaur jammies, and he delights in pointing out the "saurs" on his shoes. I thought it would be neat to show him the big, red, roaring dinosaur they have on display at Target.

Apparently seeing something that is your size roaring and stomping around is pretty scary. Even scarier than that is showing him a small, molded plastic dinosaur that neither roars nor moves as an effort at demonstrating that not all dinosaurs are scary. That sent James into such a terror that people actually came from the next aisles over to look at me and see what I had done to my child, because surely only a child that is actively being abused cries like that. I told James I was sorry and carried him around a bit, but I may have gotten him off the dinosaur kick. I also managed to thoroughly terrify him of going down any aisle in the toy department. Oops. Well, you live, you learn.

Bears do NOT Go in the Dryer

James did not want Pooh Bear to go in the dryer after the bear's most recent "bath." I had washed him because during a nap this weekend James peed on him (hahaha, he peed on Pooh...). James saw me toss the "Beaw" into the dryer, and immediately said "Beaw!! No!! Wet!" Puzzled, I fished out the bear, gave him to James, and watched as James laid him on the door of the dryer, proclaimed that he was, indeed, wet, and proceeded to march around the house clutching the slightly damp bear in a death grip until bathtime. By the time James went to bed, Pooh was dry, but boy did mama learn her lesson!

Also, my iPod makes a handy phone, if a certain boy wants to call "Gma House" (grandma's house). In the future, however, I will be sure to lock the iPod before James tries to call any other edifices, as he managed to change the time zone and some other settings before he got bored of his game.

James' First Trip to the Aquarium

We went to the Denver Aquarium with my mom, cousin Gail, Gail's daughter Sandy, and my little brother Jonny.

Apparently James is not a fan of being eaten by a giant shark. Good to know.